Whisper
by Nelarun
Summary: For her entire life Rukia had been followed by whispers: cruel, taunting and jealous and wished for them to be silenced. But now at the end of her life she was left only with deafening silence and wished for the whispers to return... Set during a few scenes of Rukia's life, finishing season three.


It isn't what they say about you, it's what they whisper.

- Errol Flynn

**Whispers**

A Bleach Fanfiction

by Nelarun

Bleach and all characters used within © Kubo Tite

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The silence around her is strange, deafening in a sense. The streets are clear, all unnecessary movement halted, a curfew in place for the majority of the Seireitei. There are no words of contempt, no cruel laughter and no derisive whispers as she walks calmly towards her execution. And as strange as it is, she misses them. Such sounds, cruel as they are, have been part of her life since she was a child. It was almost a pity that they weren't to be around her as her life ended.

In the Rukongai, Inuzuri to be precise, people whispered that she thought herself above them, that she acted like a girl used to the good things in life, an empress or princess perhaps. Renji always told her to ignore it and she always had, but their words had been there, always just out of earshot. Their dark eyes filled with scorn, turned to smiles and delight when she produced jars of water or bags of confetti. Rukia had ignored them as best as she could, retreating to a tree or to the mountain or deep within Inuzuri, always with a smile on her face, running side-by-side with Renji.

_After her run in with the Shinigami, she decided that one day she would go to the Shino Academy and then the whispers would be different._

In the Shino Academy they had whispered that she was little more than a Rukon dog and had bought her way into the Academy through one means or another. Such whispers saw her ostracised, even from other former members of the Rukongai. It was the start, the catalyst that saw her zeal for life – her confidence – whither. Renji was her one anchor to her old life, her old self, the one she thought would never throw her aside in any format, and yet even he started spending less and less time with her, claiming that because he was in the advanced class and she wasn't he had so much more stuff to do than she had. At first she had accepted that, but then whispers came to her ears, whispers of the Rukongan in the second year's first class being friends with '_her_' and how it could mean disaster for him academically. She hadn't wanted to believe it, but then he had started seeing the hesitation in his eyes and posture when she approached him in the hall ways or grounds, saw the censure in his new friends eyes when they spoke. Soon they went from talking every day to maybe once every other week – each using study or training as an excuse, each smiling or laughing the excuse off. Without Renji's friendship she heard new whispers. She was now called the Princess of the Rukongai behind her back (though many didn't make any effort to keep their voices down.)

_At night in her room she whispered to herself that at least when she became a Shinigami she would be able to make friends. _

Then there were the whispers she heard outside the door on the day of her interview with the Thirteenth Division. They were mocking her and her (admittedly) minimal abilities, saying that she was only here because of her Clan's name. She tried not to let it bother her, it was the same in the Academy after all... only somehow it was far worse here.

_Any hopes she had of making friends in the Division were crushed. _

When the Shinigami Women's Association had sent her an official letter asking her to join their ranks she had blinked and stared at it in surprise. Glancing up at her nii-sama, she saw something flash over his face when he saw the seal on the letter. She thought it was anger or horror, or even perhaps a curious mixture of the two, but he had stood and merely told her to do as she would. Swallowing she silently made her way up to the Tenth Division's lesser meeting hall where the Association had gathered. She had a smile on her face – this was her first offer of friendship since she had been running around the Rukongai with Renji – a smile that became fixed as, hand stretched out to open the screen, she heard soft whispers translate into words. They spoke of how they had to keep smiles on their faces when she walked in, how even though they hadn't wanted to ask her, they needed her. Rukia was, after all, in a position close to Kuchiki Byakuya and they needed that desperately! Rukia's hand dropped to her side once more, her eyes fixed on the bottom of the door, all confidence and happiness gone. She should have turned and walked back to the Thirteenth to continue working on her zanjutsu or hakuda. Instead to her shame she straightened and walked inside, a small smile on her face as she bowed, startling some of the more astute Shinigami who recognised her reiatsu as the one that had been lingering outside (they had assumed it to be one of the Shinigami Men's Association's spies). Rukia bowed, introducing herself and thanked them for the opportunity to join them.

_She sat in the awkward silence that followed and hated that she was so pathetic, so desperate as to accept a hand of false friendship. _

The days that followed Shiba Kaien's death were a flurry of things left unsaid. Byakuya ordered her confined to the family wing of the manor until the worst of the legal ramifications were taken care of, as Byakuya and the Kuchiki Elders hurried into talks with the Shiba Elders. Though it had been necessary, (a Kuchiki had killed a Shiba, had _admitted_ it to the Shiba Clan, Kaien's blood still on her face and clothes) the absence of words was painful. Rukia much preferred it when she returned to the Division to find herself ostracised by everyone. She didn't blame them, agreeing with their anger and loathing (though they knew why she had done what she had done) for Kaien had been one of the brightest lights in Shinigami history and she, the Kuchiki charity case, had snuffed him out. Whispers continued now, calling her the Ice Empress. It was rather clever (if unimaginative) allusion to both her zanpakutou and to her demeanour, and Rukia supposed it was a step up from Rukon Princess.

_She walked to the Senkaimon and kept her eyes on the gates as one of the guards muttered about the Ice Empresses first solo mission to the Realm of the Living and how he hoped she didn't get anyone important killed, even as the other guard hissed for him to shut up. _

Strangely enough, the only whispers she didn't mind (and yet felt discomforted by) were those of the humans. They whispered that she was kind and funny and gentle and pretty and smart. The humans... those that Rukia had been taught were lesser beings (she supposed they were considered on par with those of the Rukongai) were the only one who were honest both to her face and behind her back. They were her first (dare she say it?) friends since Renji had cast her so easily aside so long ago. For a time she was happy, she felt she belonged and then reality came crashing down. She didn't belong here, no matter how kind the humans were. There would be no whispers when she was gone, there would be no memories of her, nothing to talk to each other about. If pressed they may vaguely recall a transfer student who disappeared as quietly as she had appeared but that was all.

_She wasn't sure why it hurt so much..._

The whispers that followed her through the Seireitei to the Sixth Division prison block were minimal (though she was under no illusion that had nii-sama not been there it would have been worse and that as soon as they were passed, their little gossip groups would form and whispers would start again.) The whispers from the guards were quiet and easily ignored during the day, but in the stillness of the night Rukia could make out some of the words. They were whispering of her, how the Thirteenth had abandoned her, how even though she was allowed visitors none had come...

_Because Renji didn't count as he only attempted to converse with her out of guilt, only looked in on her out of duty._

As she was lead to the Soukyoku she felt something in her die... the whispers had been correct. Her Taichou and third seats may have said that they were fighting for her, but they were lying. After all, they hadn't even come to honour her by watching her execution. The whispers that broke out among the assembled fukutaichous noted the absence as well. As always, Rukia refused to let her anguish show - soon she would be free of their whispers and dark looks. Soon Ichigo and his friends would have to fight their way out of the Seireitei and back to the Realm of the Living, (years of listening to the whispers had allowed her to hear the truth of the soutaichou's words) but by then that wouldn't be her problem. She was about to die, and then the whispers would cease. After Gin had whispered to her, had offered her a way out, had broken her composure she felt at peace once more. The halberd shifted into it's true form and she bowed her head, content at last. It was time to still the whispers once and for all.

_So why was there a final whisper? And why did it simply say _'Yo.'

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**A/N: Four weeks of Uni left and what am I doing? Studying for final exams? Finishing off my case study? Nope... writing -_-... Anyways I hope you enjoyed this! ^_^. I'm currently working on an expansion to the SWA scene, so look out for it. ^_^**


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